


Tanaka's Flight

by maychorian



Series: Tanaka Week [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Family, Friendship, Gen, Senpai-Kouhai Relationship, Team as Family, Wingfic, hinata and tanaka are really close friends, kageyama is just as worried about hinata as he always is, more feelsy than i expected from such a cracky premise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-17 05:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3517253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maychorian/pseuds/maychorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where young adults grow their wings around the age of nineteen or so, Tanaka is expecting to endure his fledge alone. Hinata finds this unacceptable.</p><p>Tanaka Week, Day 7. The prompts were "wings" and "graduation," so my brain gave me this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tanaka's Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Here are songs about birds and wings and flying that I've been listening to a lot lately. I'm not saying they influenced this story...but they probably influenced this story.
> 
>  
> 
> [Sing the Prettiest Songs](http://8tracks.com/maychorian/sing-the-prettiest-songs)

Tanaka had been feeling the itch between his shoulder blades for several weeks, now. The time was coming soon. He didn't tell anyone. He didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to think about it. The fledge was impossible to pinpoint, after all. The itching was just a warning—it wasn't a timeframe. 

Most of his year-mates were already gone. All of his friends his own age had flown. Part of him thought being one of the youngest of his class really sucked, forcing him to be the last to go like this. Part of him was happy for the extra time to spend with his kouhai, though. He'd been retired from the volleyball club since high school graduation, but he still stopped by now and then. It was always good to see everyone.

Hinata, of course, was the first one to bring it up. He stopped by The Foothill Store during Tanaka's shift after practice one day and bought a curry bun, then sat on one of the stools and swung his legs while he watched Tanaka sweep the floor.

"The time's coming soon, isn't it," Hinata said with a sad smile.

Tanaka's shoulders shifted without his meaning them to. The itching was worse today. "I guess."

"We'll miss you."

"It's only for a few years. Most of us will come back."

 _A few don't, though._ Neither of them said it aloud.

"You're looking forward to seeing Noya-san again, aren't you?"

Tanaka paused, tilting his head in thought. "There's no guarantee I'll find him."

"He's probably waiting for you so you can do your Exploring together. You two are bros."

Tanaka gave Hinata a smile. The kid was such a sweetheart, sometimes. He was stronger and calmer than he'd been when they met, though not much taller. The little ponytail he'd started wearing in second year looked good on him. The team was in good hands with Hinata and the other current third-years.

Hinata took another bite of his bun. "Won't be that much longer till I join you, anyway."

Tanaka snorted. Hinata had the privilege of being among the oldest of his group-mates. High school graduation was close for him, and after that, just a brief period of waiting before his fledge. "You want Noya and me to wait for you, too?"

Hinata shook his head. "Nah. You should go on ahead. Kageyama and I will catch up."

Tanaka leaned on his broom with a heavy sigh. He should be excited for his fledge. Most people were. But he still felt ties to the earth. 

Hinata noticed. His eyebrows bent in concern and he frowned around his mouthful of bun. "Are you gonna be all right? There's no one in your house to help you, is there?"

Tanaka shook his head. Saeko had delayed her Exploration for several years to make sure he'd get through high school all right with no parents to speak of, but when he officially graduated from school she finally took off. He'd long ago gotten over any guilt for making her delay her entry to adulthood with the fact of his existence, but he was still grateful every time he returned to an empty house, knowing that his big sister was out there enjoying the world like she ought to be. "I'll be fine. It's not supposed to be painful. Just strange."

"Still, most fledglings have someone around in case of emergency. And to, you know, fetch ice packs and hot towels and whatever." Hinata shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't speaking from experience, since he hadn't had an older sibling to watch go through the fledge. He was just working off stories, guesses, and what they'd learned in health class at school. 

Tanaka still found the concern touching. He smiled genuinely this time. "Don't worry. I helped Saeko-nee five years ago, remember? I know what to expect."

Hinata shoulders loosened a bit with the reminder. "Still don't want you to be alone," he mumbled.

"No choice," Tanaka said stoically. He stood straight and pushed the broom along the floor. "The fledge comes without warning, and once it starts, there's nothing else to do. I won't be able to call anyone to come over or anything. Just have to get through it. But I'll give you a flyover when it’s done, right? You can wave me off."

Hinata nodded slowly, forced to accept things the way they are. He tucked the last bite of his bun into his mouth and chewed it, his eyes far away. Then he looked at Tanaka again, sharp and questioning. "I know there's no real warning, but you've been feeling the itch, haven't you?"

Tanaka looked away, and that was answer enough.

"All right. No. This is unacceptable." The words burst from Hinata's mouth, and he stood suddenly, slapping his hand on his thigh as he stood. His face was set, his eyes sparkling with determination.

Tanaka stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Hinata nodded decisively, as if everything was all set, even though Tanaka had no idea what he was even talking about. "Come and stay at my house until the fledge happens. My mom loves you, you know. My dad does too. They would be really upset to know that you're having to go through it by yourself. There's no way we can let that happen."

"What? No!" Tanaka waved his hands in front of his face, the broom dropping unnoticed from his hands. "No, I can't impose on you like that, don't be ridiculous. You're just talking nonsense because you're upset about losing your last senpai from high school. It'll pass if you just take a break and _think_ about what you're saying..."

"No." Hinata stepped forward and grabbed Tanaka's elbows, stopping the restless movement with sheer force. He stared up at his senpai with stubbornness writ large across his face. “Stop that. You’re my big brother, Ryuu-nii. I can’t let you do this alone.”

Tanaka was helpless in the face of this. Still... "But you can't make promises for your parents."

Hinata made an exasperated noise and stepped back. He threw his hands in the air, then pulled out his cellphone. He had finally upgraded to a smartphone at the beginning of the year. "Fine! I'll call them."

"Wait, don't..."

The phone was already ringing. Hinata held up a finger to silence Tanaka as he listened for someone to pick up on the other end. "Hello, Mom? I want to talk to you about something."

He didn't frame it as a question or a request. He explained the situation, which his mother was probably already aware of anyway, and confirmed that yes, Tanaka was going to be alone during his fledge unless something changed. "So he'll stay at our house," Hinata finished, steady and firm, and Tanaka could see why the younger volleyball players at Karasuno all looked up to their captain with such awe.

Mrs. Hinata's answer over the phone was easy to hear. It was instant and it was loud. "Of course."

Hinata nodded. "I'll tell him." He closed the phone and looked Tanaka in the eyes again. "See? It's settled."

At that point Tanaka's only option was to smile and give in, his shoulders abruptly loosening from their hunch around his ears. Something gave way in his chest, some small, hard knot of anxiety that he hadn't known was there. "Yeah, I guess you know best."

Hinata gave him a brilliant grin and two thumbs up. "When does your shift end? I'll help you get anything you need from your house."

"You can just go now," Coach Ukai said as he emerged from the storeroom with an armful of boxes. He set them down on the counter and waved his fingers at Tanaka. His long black wings, sleek and smooth at the flight tips and artfully ruffled above that, brushed the floor as he stretched. "No need for you to stick around any longer. We'll get some other dumb kid to sweep the floors. Your fledge is coming soon. Go enjoy your real graduation."

Tanaka nodded gratefully. He put away the broom and hung up his apron. "Thank you, Coach. I appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Yeah, yeah." Ukai waved him lazily away. "Get outta here and go to Hinata's house so someone can help you scratch between your shoulder blades. You're making _me_ itchy, just watching you twitch around trying to deal with it on your own."

Tanaka grinned and went. Outside the store, Hinata leaped on him, wrapping an arm around Tanaka's neck and tugging him down so he could give his back a good scratching. It provided some relief, though that ended almost as soon as Hinata stopped. 

The itching was really bad, now.

X

Hinata had good timing. The fledge started the next day. Tanaka was barely cognizant through the thick of it, wracked with fever and chills, incoherent and only tenuously aware of his surroundings. He felt the cool, womanly hand on his forehead, though. Heard Hinata's voice telling him to be strong, hold on, it would all be over soon. He could have sworn he could _hear_ the sounds of his wings growing from his back in the span of less than a day, new bone structures creaking and groaning and snapping into place, the whispering life of muscles and tendons, the soft growth and brush of feathers, one after the other after the other.

There was no medical emergency, no disorder or aberration. It was not a particularly painful fledge, nor was it unusually long. He could have gotten through it on his own. Sure, he could have. But when it was done, he was glad he hadn't been forced to.

Hinata came home from school and burst in the door to see Tanaka, his eyes going wide and his mouth dropping open when he saw the final result. "Uwaaahh, you finished while I was gone!"

Tanaka grinned, bright as the sun. The pain and fever had passed with the growth of the last feather. He stood in the main room, which was the only room in the house big enough to hold him, and slowly spread his wingspan. "How do you like your senpai now, Shou-chan?"

"You look _amazing."_ Hinata circled him slowly, watching as Tanaka stretched out one wing as far as it he could without knocking pictures off the wall, then turned and stretched the other as well. "All the shades mixed up, of, like, black and blue, but with that stripe of red down your back. It's so cool, Ryuu-nii! What is it, a predator bird?"

Tanaka nodded. "Your mom said they're kestrel wings."

"So cooooool."

Tanaka resisted the urge to preen. He was also fighting the urge to take off immediately—the Longing, some called it. He understood, now, why no one could bear to stick around for any length of time after their fledge. The desire to fly was overwhelming, overpowering. It bordered on necessity.

How had Saeko-nee endured it? Not just for a few days or weeks, but for _years?_ His respect and admiration for his sister, already considerable, rose to the sky.

Hinata had gotten a lot more observant over the years. He didn't miss the way Tanaka was fidgeting. "You want to leave, don't you? You want to fly."

Tanaka shivered where he stood. He wanted the sky. But he stood there, tethered to the earth, because his kouhai was watching him with sad eyes. He couldn't leave, not yet.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"No. I want you to go. I want you to enjoy your wings. But stay for just an hour, please? We'll see you off."

Tanaka tilted his head in confusion, but Hinata had already turned away to shout down the hall. "Come on! Get in here!"

Tanaka blinked at the clatter of feet in the hall, far more than he expected. And then they walked in the room behind Hinata, all of them. Everyone who was left of the original team who first went to nationals: Kageyama, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Yachi. Even Takeda and Ukai had come, one smiling like the embodiment of hope, the other pretending to scowl and doing a bad job of it.

Tanaka's mouth dropped open. "What is this?"

Hinata beamed. "You never got a graduation party, did you? It's time we fixed that."

"Don't worry," Kageyama said gruffly. "We won't keep you long."

Yachi nodded, already looking teary-eyed. "We just want to say good-bye."

They had their little celebration in the back garden, which was the only place they could all fit along with Tanaka's wings. The newly fledged things could not yet lay sedately along his back like those of a mature adult. They quivered and shook in the air as if possessed by a will of their own, constantly stretching and fluttering in hopes of catching an unfelt breeze. The spring weather was warm and fresh. Tanaka couldn’t have asked for a better day for a first flight.

Everyone told Tanaka, more than once, how cool his wings were. Everyone except Tsukishima, of course, who merely grunted something that could have been taken as agreement when Yamaguchi poked his side. That almost passed for enthusiasm, in his case.

Tanaka wondered what his kouhai's wings would look like. He was looking forward to seeing them. Yachi's would be yellow and soft, he was sure, perhaps like a canary. Kageyama's would appear sleek and powerful and forbidding when folded, but when they opened, the inner wings would be patterned and beautiful. Hinata would be something small and colorful, like a conure. Or a hummingbird. Tsukishima's would be bright, belying his personality, and he would no doubt have the biggest wingspan of any of Tanaka's former teammates. Yamaguchi...

Tanaka didn't know for sure, but he would have been willing to lay good money on Yamaguchi's wings being the most beautiful and powerful of them all.

Well, he would find out soon enough. For now, it was good to be with everyone, if only for a little while. They laughed and joked and told each other old stories they all knew, funny things that had happened in high school, happy memories, games they had won, games they had lost, people they had met and rivaled and matched on the court. Mrs. Hinata had prepared plenty of food to go around, and everyone partook.

Tanaka ate more than anyone else. He didn't notice at first, too caught up in the company and the fun, doing his best to ignore the sky tugging at his soul. But he just...kept eating. Every time he finished one item, another drew his attention. Mrs. Hinata kept bringing out more trays, grinning in pleasure when he made grasping motions in the air to draw them closer to himself.

"You remind me of my brother after his fledge," she said sweetly, patting his head as he chowed down on another plate of onigiri. "He couldn't get enough, either. Well, don't hold back. You'll need all the fuel you can get for your first journey."

Tanaka paused then, his gaze drawn almost against his will up to the blue, blue above him. His wings twitched so hard they almost knocked Yachi over, and Hinata laughed and caught her as she gasped. The adults chuckled in fond delight at the entire scene, and Tanaka tried not to blush.

"Sorry, Yacchan," he mumbled through a mouthful of rice and tuna.

Yachi squeaked and waved her hands as if trying to shove the apology away. "Don't mind, don't mind! It's just...your body is ready to fly, that's all. Kiyoko-san could hardly stay five minutes—I understand!"

Tanaka looked up at the sky again. Everyone fell silent for a long, peaceful moment. The wind blew through the branches of the trees along the fence. 

Then Tanaka felt a warmth at his side, and he looked down to find Hinata sidling up beside him, squeezing in under his wing to wrap an arm around his back. Hinata's eyes were bright, as was his smile. "You should go, Ryuu-nii," he said softly. "Thank you for delaying this long."

Tanaka nodded to him, incapable of speech. Hinata squeezed him tight for a moment, then stepped away. The others circled around, reaching out to touch him, too. A pat on the shoulder, a rub of his head, a hand-clasp from Yachi, a kiss on the cheek from Mrs. Hinata. All said their farewells, and few used words. Ukai took the empty plate from his hands and grabbed his shoulder with one strong, sinewy hand.

He looked Tanaka in the face, and Tanaka had never seen so much pride in the eyes of an adult. Not aimed at him, anyway. It came close to taking his breath away.

"Fly," Ukai said. And he stepped back.

They all made room, giving him the distance he needed. Tanaka looked at each of them, his companions, his teachers, his friends. His wings shivered, then spread. He could feel the power gathering in the new muscles, in the tendons of his back and upper arms. He was a coiled spring, ready to rebound.

"Thank you!" he cried. 

And he lifted his wings and brought them down, swift and powerful. Instinct drove him, instructed him. The instinct of all those who had gone before, yet it was his own, too. The blood rushed in his brain, in his heart, through his limbs. All six of them.

What if it didn’t work? What if he couldn’t really fly, what if there was some unseen flaw, what if he was crippled before he began?

None of that. A few strong, heavy beats of his peregrine wings, and Tanaka was in the air. He soared and swooped, roaring his laughter. He was blind with the joy of it, speed tearing at his eyes. 

The sun was a ball of molten gold and the clouds were downy fluff. He swooped and yelled and circled and dove, revelling in all of it. He heard their voices, the distant cries of encouragement.

“Go, Tanaka-san!” “Fly, senpai, fly!” “Have fun, kid!” “Ryuu-nii! Go explore the world, Ryuu-nii!”

Tanaka leveled out and glided over Hinata’s house, wings spread to catch the updraft and slow him a little. The speed was still dizzying, and the constantly shifting view of the earth and sky made him giddy as well as excited. He had to circle a time or two before he could make out the small figures on the ground below through his streaming eyes and befuddled vision.

There they were on the ground, waving and shouting. Coach Ukai’s wings, crow-black and raven-strong, had begun to shake out from his back as if the sight of Tanaka’s flight had stirred a yearning in his own soul. Yachi had climbed up on a chair to be just a little closer to him, and Yamaguchi was waving both fists in the air.

Hinata...Hinata was running on the ground below. He had left the garden and was running along the street, trying to keep up with Tanaka high above. Kageyama was at his heels, running full out with his hands pressed into blades and his legs pumping, but Hinata was waving and jumping as he ran, shouting at the sky in an attempt to capture Tanaka’s attention.

“Ryuu-nii! Fly, Ryuu-nii! Fly, fly!”

Tanaka’s flight took him too far, too fast, and he had to turn his head to keep an eye on Hinata as the wind carried him away. Kageyama caught up and pounced on Hinata, shoving him to the ground. “Look where you’re going, dumbass! You’ll run into something if you only watch the sky!”

Tanaka circled back to fly along the road one more time, waving at Hinata with both hands. “Thank you, Shou-chan! Thank you! Good-bye! I’ll see you soon!”

“See you soon!” Hinata yelled back, flailing his arms and almost escaping Kageyama’s frantic grip.

“See you soon!” everyone cried in the garden, and Tanaka laughed again, loud and breathless and unstoppable. It was true. He would see them all again soon.

But now the sky beckoned, and Tanaka could no longer resist the urge to go. After one last wave, one last circle above the house of his precious kouhai, he turned his face away from the earth. And he flew, strong and swift and unafraid, into the blue.

He didn’t know what he would find. He had no idea what was out there. He only knew that he couldn’t wait to see it all.

**Author's Note:**

> [Kestrels are small and fierce and gorgeous.](https://floridakeyshawkwatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/male2.jpg)


End file.
